was donating money to cabelas today and came across some decoys from carry-lite that were sandhill cranes, blue haron, etc. just wondering if anyone has used them and if they work or just a waste of money. maybe something to experiment with. its all trial and error right?

"Augustus......by-god Woodrow, it's been quite a party ain't it....yes sir."

I hear alot of good about them for sure, I never used them personally but i do know that those birds are extremely weary so hey they might work great. My buddy bought one and used it a couple times and killed ducks, but i personally haven't shot over it yet maybe this year coming!!

I’ve found that any kind of confidence decoys work great. Some of the best are the ones that fly in; I mean fish ducks and cranes. I’ll let them sit in the spread and not spook them. Some stay a couple of minutes others a half hour or more, fun to watch as well :cool:

"As long as there are Flyways and their coming our way, you'll find us right here"

The great blue heron has been effective here in the Northeast......although it is difficult to note if success really improves with it in place.....I also use crows in cornfields hunting geese, and they certainly add to the realism but again not sure if they increase success rates......and on the salt I sometimes put out a couple of gulls. Hey, it makes me feel like I am doing all I can to mix things up as in reallife. We also see a mix of 'everything' when glassing or even when hunting, so why not replicate. Swans are another good confidence deke.

I have put out a herd of deer decoys in the corn field before, looked neat, we killed geese dont know if that had anything to do with it but it was neat to look back there and see the deer def something diff

I've always thought about painting some duck decoys to look like farm ducks. Around the parks and stuff I have seen farm ducks in with the others, and have always thought it might work with hunting too. I know that nobody around here does it.

I also have use a Great blue Heron decoy, Gulls, and Crow decoys.
I used Widgeon's in my diver rig, Geese in my puddler rig, and Crows in my Goose rig.
Did it make any difference.........somedays I like to think it did. because it seem to draw the birds we were targetting somewhat closer, when all else was the way it should have been. Other days....it seemed a waste of time.....but it's really hard to tell. I'm just a sucker for realism.